An increasing number of digital image editing applications and functions available in these applications allow users to quickly and accurately edit digital images to their liking. One common task undertaken by users of digital image editing applications is to repair defects in digital images or remove unwanted objects from the digital images. Conventional digital image editing applications use techniques to repair or remove portions of digital images such as copying patches from elsewhere in the digital image containing the portion, or searching an auxiliary image collection (AIC) to generate patches from other digital images to replace the portion. When using an AIC to generate patches, digital images are selected for content and structural similarity, i.e., patches to fill in a waterfall are sampled from digital images containing waterfalls.
Nevertheless, a number of problems exist with these conventional techniques. Conventional systems that copy patches from elsewhere within the same digital image containing the portion to be replaced provide limited material from which to generate patches. Conventional systems that use an AIC provide a larger number of patch candidates than using only the same digital image, often by searching dozens, hundreds, or thousands of digital images in the AIC based on items of content of the digital image. However, reliance on the content of the digital image alone often leads to false positive digital image search results that do not match the digital image for one reason or another.
Particularly, the content constraints imposed on conventional systems when selecting patches do not enforce a consistent visual style between the patches selected and the digital image that includes the portion to be filled. Additionally, conventional systems do not provide any solutions to harmonize the style of patches during their composition to bridge the visual gap between the original style of a patch and a digital image for which it is to be incorporated. Visual inconsistencies caused by inaccurate patch selection and incorporation are easily detected by users who expect a homogeneous aesthetic style within a completed digital image.